BOWLING   GREEN 


BOWLING  GREEN 


BY 


SPENCER    TRASK 


ILLUSTRATED 


G.   P.   PUTNAM'S   SONS 
NKW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

Che  "ffxiuckeibochcr  ipict^y 


Copyright,  1898 

BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S   SONS 


tibc  Iknicfccibochcr  press,  UAcw  Bock 


iii 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Map   of   New   Netherlands.      With   a 

View  of  New  Amsterdam   (now 

T 

New  York),  A.I).  lO^b.       Froutispietc 

From  Adriaen  van  der  Donck's  New  NetlicrLiiuis 

Edition  of  lO^o. 

The  "Sea  Mew"  in  the  Bay 

2 

First  Seal  of  City.  1023-1654 

3 

The  Fort      .... 

4 

The  Sally-Port    . 

-> 

Dancing          .... 

7 

"  Pipe  of  Peace"  . 

9 

A  Fair  Vrolw 

1 1 

The  Palisades 

14 

The  Fortifications 

I  =, 

An  Informer 

16 

The  Valiant  Army 

17 

New  York  in  i6q^ 

18 

Plan  by  Rev.  John  Miller. 

The  Drummer 

IQ 

The  Sheriff  .... 

21 

Burgomasters 

2^ 

Map  of  Original  Grants 

^7 

2046809 


iv 

flllustrations 

PAGE 

Seal  of  City,  1686,  Granted  by  James  II. 

2C) 

Broadway  and  the  Bowling  Green  in 

1835.    Showing  Kennedy,  Watts, 

Livingston,   and  Van  Cortlandt 

Houses 

31 

Map  Showing  Extensions  of  the   Bat- 

tery     

3=- 

Stained-Glass   Window    in    "Bowling 

Green  Offices."    Showing  Green 

about  1760           .... 

37 

Part  of  Plan  of  City,  1761  . 

38 

Surveyed  by  F.  Maerschalck. 

Kennedy  House,  No.  i   Broadway 

39 

Autograph  of  Martin  Cregier     . 

43 

King's  Arms  Tavern  or  Burns'  Coffee 

House,  9-1 1  Broadway 

4=i 

First  Reading  of  the   Declaration  of 

Independence        .... 

51 

Part  of  Map  Drawn  by  Jeremiah  John- 

son, Showing  Governor's  Island 

at  Time  of  Revolution 

S4 

Bowling  Green  at  Time  of  the  Revo- 

lution           

55 

Governor's  Island  as  Now  . 

57 

Thf  Fort  and  Battery,    1750 

61 

Thi;  Battery  and  Castle  Clinton,  1822 

6s 

■flUustratious 


The  Aquarium 

Government  House 

"Steamship  Row,  1898" 

The  Produce  Exchange 

The  Beginning  of  Broadway 

Bowling  Green  Offices,  s-i  i  Broadway 


7> 

77 

78 
81 
82 


BOWLING  GREEN 


EW  YORK  is  cosmopoli- 
tan, essentially  so,  be- 
yond all  large  cities  of 
the  world.  Absorbed 
in  the  whirl  and  stir  of 
the  To- day,  occupied 
with  vast  schemes  and 
enterprises  for  the  To- 
morrow, overswept  bv 
a  constant  influx  of  new 
life  and  new  elements, 
it  seems  to  have  no  individual  entity.  It  does 
not  hold  fast  its  old  traditions,  its  past  associa- 
tions. It  is  hurried  on.  in  the  quickstep  of  its 
march  of  improvement,  faraway  from  its  start- 
ing-point ;  and  as  it  goes  and  grows  with  rapid 
progress  into  something  new  and  vast,  it  ruth- 
lessly obliterates  its  old  landmarks  and  forgets 
its  early  historv.  It  is  well,  sometimes,  to  look 
back  and  remember  the  beginning  of  things. 


/Rarcb  of 

Umpiovcs 

mcut 


Bowliiuj  Green 


Zbc 

36o\vling 

Orcen 


to  quicken  our  civic  pride  by  measuring  our 
growth,  to  recall  the  struggles  and  the  con- 
quests which  proved  the  courage,  patience, 
and  stamina  of  the  people  who  made  New 
York  what  it  is. 

There  is  no  piece  of  land  on  Manhattan  Is- 
land which  has  retained  for  a  longer  period  its 
distinctive  name,  and  at  the  same  time  fulfilled 
more  thoroughly  the  purposes  of  its  creation, 
than  the  small  park  at  the  extreme  southern 
end  of  Broadway  known  as  Bowling  Green. 
It  is  the  one  historic  spot  which  has  never 
lost  its  identity  or  been  diverted  from  public 
use  since  the  foundation  of  the  city. 


-.-...:*/::Wffi:. 


THE         SEA    MEW  "    IN    THE    BAY 


The  history  of  the  city  from  the  time  when 
the  good  ship  Sen  Mac  sailed  into  the  bay. 
May  6,  1626.  bearing  the  doughty  Dutch  Gov- 
ernor, Peter  Minuet. — with  no  city  and  no  peo- 


JBowlino  Green 


pie  as  vet  to  govern, — to  the  present,  might 
ahnost  be  written  from  what  has  been  seen 
and  heard  from  this  small  plot  of  land. 

The  West  India  Companv  was  chartered  by 
the  States-General  of  Holland  in  1621.  In  i62t. 
enough  capital  had  been  raised,  and  colonists 
obtained,  to  warrant  the  Companv  in  begin- 
ning to  avail  itself  of  the  almost  unlimited 
privileges  granted,  of  exclusive  trade  along 
the  whole  Atlantic  coast,  and  of  almost  sov- 
ereign power. 
The  first  act 
of  the  honest 
Dutchman  on 
that  May  morn 
was  to  call  to- 
g  e  t  h  e  r  the 
M  a  n  h  a  1 1  a  n 
tribe  of  hidi- 
ans,  probably 
on  the  vervsite 
of  the  future 
Green.     There 

he  traded  for  the  whole  island,  named  after  the 
tribe,  estimated  at  that  time  to  contain  about 
"  1 1,000  Dutch  morgens,"  '  or  22,000  acres,  a 
quantity  of  beads,  trinkets,  etc.,  valued  at  sixty 
guilders,  or  about  twenty-four  dollars,  a  sum 
far  less  than  that  now  paid  for  a  single  square 
foot  of  any  portion  of  that  land  which  then 
came  within  his  vision.     From  this  sharp  bar- 


FIRST    SEAL    OF    CITY.       1623-1664. 


JGaitcr 
witb 


JBowlino  (3recn 


Zbc  Ifoit 


gain  was  to  grow  the  citv  that  was  destined 
to  be  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the  new 
continent,  and  the  second  largest  city  of  the 
world. 

In  order  to  insure  peaceable  possession,  a 
fort  was  built,  seemingly  under  the  direction 
of  one  Kryn  Frederycke,  and  in  1635,  a  larger 


one  was  erected  at  the  contract  price  of 
$i63S-  It  was  300  feet  long,  and  2 so  wide. 
This  enclosed  the  Governor's  house,  barracks, 
and,  later,  the  church.  The  contract  for  the 
building  of  the  church  required  it  to  be  of 
"  Rock  Stone,"  72  feet  long,  s^  feet  broad, 
and  16  feet  high.  The  price  was  $1000.  This 
fort  occupied  the  space  between  the  present 
streets  called  Whitehall.  Bridge,  State,  and 
Bowling  Green.  The  sally-port  was  at  the 
north. 


THE   SALLY-PORT. 


3Bo\vliiui  Green 


The  large  open  space  opposite  the  sallv-poit 
was  set  apart  and  known  at  first  as  "The 
Plaine,"  afterwards  to  become  the  Bowling 
Green.  It  held  a  place  of  great  importance  in 
the  annals  of  the  city  in  times  of  peace  and  times 
of  war.     This  was  the  village  green,  which 


"  XTbc 
BMamc 


marked  the  growing  social  life  of  the  people. 
Here  the  children  played,  looking  tar  off  into  the 
waterv  distance  as  thev  remembered  stories  of 
their  grandfathers'  and  fathers'  homes  beyond 
the  sea  ;  here  the  youths  and  maidens  danced 


Bowlino  (Breeu 


Ibow  tbc 

©recti  was 

Usci> 


on  holidays  and  crowned  their  loveliest  on  the 
tirst  of  May,  wreathing  their  Mav-poles  with 
the  early  green.  It  was  also  the  parade-ground 
for  the  soldiers.  On  Sundays,  we  can  see  it 
crowded  with  the  country  wagons  of  all  de- 
scriptions, of  those  who  came  to  worship  at  the 
church  "within  the  Fort,"  the  horses  being 
turned  loose  to  graze  on  the  hillside  running 
down  to  the  water  on  the  site  of  the  present 
Battery.  Here,  also,  was  the  well,  built  for  the 
use  both  of  the  garrison  and  of  the  general  pub- 
lic. Tradition  has  affirmed  that  the  site  of  this 
well  was  originally  a  spring,  the  surplus  waters 
of  which  ran  in  a  little  brook  down  the  present 
line  of  Beaver  Street,  and  contributed  to  form 
the  marsh  in  the  present  Broad  Street,  then 
called  "  Blommaert's  ■'  Valley. 

Here  Governor  Van  Twiller  proved  his  valor 
and  his  contempt  for  the  English.  An  English 
trading  vessel  came  into  the  bay  to  trade  with 
Indians  up  the  river.  One  of  the  sailors  de- 
poses that 

"The  Dutch  here  inhabitinge  send  and  com- 
mand all  our  Companye  (excepte  one  boye) 
to  come  to  their  forte,  where  they  staide  about 
twoe  houres  and  the  Governor  commande  his 
gunner  to  make  ready  three  peeces  of  ordnance 
and  shott  them  off  for  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
and  sprede  the  Prince's  Coloures.  Where- 
upon Jacob  Elekins,  the  merchant's  factor  of 
the  Shippe,  the  IV/IIiiiiii,  commande  William 


Bowliiui  (Brccii 


Oovcinoi 

•Cwnllcr'e 
Ualor 


Ftbrde  of  LvmehoLise  (the  gunner)  to  go  aboid 
the  Shippe  and  sprede  her  coloures  and  shoote 
off  three  peeces  of  ordnance  for  the  Kinge  of 
England.'"' 

Then  Jacob  Elekins  coolly  sailed  up  the  river 
HI  defiance  of  the  guns  of  the  fort,  leaving  the 
astonished  Governor  to  meditate  on  his  audac- 
itv.  Thunderstruck  at  such  an  act  of  temer- 
ity. Van  Twiller  summoned  all  the  people  to 
"The  Plaine,"  then  orderinii  a  cask  of  wine 


"   PIPE    OF    PEACE. 


and  another  of  beer  to  be  rolled  out,  he  tilled 
a  glass  and  called  on  all  good  citizens  to  drink 
a  health  to  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  confusion 
to  the  English. 

Here,  after  two  years  of  a  blood v  and  sav- 


Bowlmo  (Brecu 


Bnnual 
Jfane 


age  war  with  the  surrounding  Indians,  during 
which  the  island  was  almost  depopulated,  the 
farms  destroyed,  and  many  adjacent  settle- 
ments obliterated,  the  sachems  of  all  the  hos- 
tile tribes  assembled  August  30,  164s.  smoked 
the  calumet  of  peace,  and  buried  the  toma- 
hawk, pledging  eternal  friendship  with  the 
whites." 

In  1041,  Governor  Kieft  established  two  an- 
nual fairs  for  the  encouragement  of  agricul- 
ture, the  first  for  cattle,  to  begin  October  is, 
and  the  second  for  hogs,  to  begin  November  i. 
These  were  ordered  to  be  held  "att  the  mar- 
kett  house  and  plaine  afore  the  forte."'  This 
fair  was  the  great  annual  event  of  the  citv, 
forerunner  of  the  Horse  Fair  and  Dog  Show. 
We  can  picture  the  sturdy  burghers  and  their 
fair  vrouws,  in  all  the  glorv  of  starched  ruffs 
and  variegated  quilted  petticoats,  discussing 
the  respective  merits  of  their  Holsteins  and 
hogs.  One  inducement  held  out  to  attract 
strangers  was  that  no  one  should  be  liable  for 
arrest  for  debt  during  the  continuance  of  the 
fair.  This  must  have  materially  added  to  the 
number  of  visitors. 

The  peace  and  quiet  of  the  worthy  burgh- 
ers, as  indicated  bv  these  fairs  and  social  gath- 
erings, were  rudely  shaken  when,  early  in 
i6s3,  a  war  having  broken  out  between  Eng- 
land and  Holland,  an  invasion  from  New 
Hnirland  was  threatened.     At  a  General  Ses- 


A    FAIR    VROUW. 


Bowlino  Green 


sion  of  the  Councillors  held  March  13,  16S3.' 
it  was  resolved. 

••  I  St.  That  the  whole 
body  of  citizens  shall 
keep  watch  by  night  in 
such  places  as  shall  be 
designated,  the  City 
Tavern  to  be  the  tem- 
p  o  ra  r  y  he  a  d  q  u  a  r  t  e  rs . ' ' 

"  2nd.  That  the  Fort 
be  repaired." 

"  3rd.  Because  the 
Fort  is  not  large  enough 
to  contain  all  the  inhabitants,  it  is  deemed 
necessary  to  enclose  the  citv  with  palisades 
and  breastworks." 

"4th.  Some  way  must  be  devised  to  raise 
money." 

"  5th.  Captain  Vischer  is  to  be  requested  to 
fix  his  sails,  to  have  his  piece  loaded,  and  to 
keep  his  vessel  in  readiness." 

(  Whether  for  fight  or  flight  is  not  said ! ) 

Evidently  not  much  reliance  could  have 
been  placed  upon  the  palisades,  for  on  July 
28,  the  Governor  sends  a  missive  to  the  City 
Magistrates,  stating  that  the  palisades  are 
completed,  and  requesting  them  "to  keep 
the  hogs  away  from  the  repaired  ramparts  of 
the  Fort." '  Some  years  later  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing entry: 

"Whereas,    the    lortiflcations   of   this   city 


Ulav 
tion» 


14 


JSowlino  Green 


lUar 

lPrc= 

cautions 


have  at  great  and  excessive  expense,  trouble 
and  labor  of  the  Burghery  and  inhabitants, 
been  mostly  completed,  and  it  is  therefore 
necessary  for  the  preservation  of  the  same 
and  better  security  of  this  city  some  orders  be 

made,  therefore 

"  Ittem.     It  is  strictly  forbidden  and    pro- 
hibited, that  any  person,  be  he  who  he  may, 


THE    PALISADES. 


presume  to  land  within  this  City,  or  quit  the 
same  in  any  other  manner,  way  or  means, 
than  thro  the  ordinary  City  Gate,  on  paine  of 
Death.  And  finally,  as  it  is  found  that  the 
hogs  which  are  kept  within  this  city  in  multi- 
tudes along  the  public  streets,  have  from  time 
to  time  committed  areat  damac:e  on  the  east- 


Bowlino  Green 

15 

ern  fortitications,  and  that  the  same  are  most 

®l•^inancc 

certainly  to  be  expected  in  like  manner  here 
on  the  erected  works,  every  one  who  keeps 

aciainst 

llDOtJS 

hogs    within   this    city   is    here   ordered    and 

charged  to  take  care  that 

tlicir  I/oos  sIm//  not  conic            ■^ 

to.  in  or  on  the  Bulicarks.                j^^^^      '/ 
Bastions,  Gardens  or  Bat-    !^^^^^^^M1^  ^ 

tcrics.  under  forfeiture  of  ''    ~  ^       ^^1 
said  hogs,  and  double  the          ^-'  -  ' ril^l-\ 
value    thereof,   to  be  ap-    "'""         MS^'^^-  *^^ 

plied  the  one  half  tor  the              ^^fc^JH^ 

informer,   the   other   half              i^^7~W\ 

tor     the     informer    who        ^^e  .ort,f,cat,ons. 

shall  put  this  in  execution. 

Everv   one   is  herebv  warned  and  put  on  his 

guard  against  injury." 

"  Bv  order  of  the  Heer  Govnr.  Gen.  of  N. 

Netherlands. 

N.  Bayard,  Sec'y.'" 

Fortunately  no  more  serious  assaults  than 

these  from  the  hogs  and  from  the  horns  of  the 

cattle  were    made   against    the   palisades,   tor 

peace    was    shortlv    after    declared    between 

England  and  Holland,  and  their  colonies  had 

to  restrain  their  martial  ardor. 

The  following  vear  but  one  was  again  full 

of  fears;  for  in  February,   ib^s.   a  council  oi 

war  was  held  to  consider  a  threatened  attack 

of  the  Swedes  on  the  South  (Delaware)  River. 

It  was  then  "Deemed  necessarv  that  the  toi- 

i6 


:)Bo\vlnu3  Onccn 


against 
tbc 


titlcations  be  repaired  " — the  cattle  probably  in 
the  meantime  having  become  obstreperous 
and  displayed  their  ferocity  against  the  stock- 
ade— "by  spiking  with  good  spikes,  a  blind 
of  planks  tlve  or  six  feet  in  height  against  the 
palisades." 


)W"'^? 


AN    INFORMER. 


Again  was  all  this  precaution  useless,  for, 
the  Swedes  not  coming,  Governor  Stuyvesant 
decided  to  go  to  them  ;  and  the  council  of 
war,  at  a  special  meeting,  having  applied  for 
and  obtained  "two  drummers  to  improve  the 
marching  of  the  militia."  the  valiant  army  set 
forth,  and  returned  triumphant,  having  de- 
stroyed the  Swedish  fort.  Later  in  this  year 
a  forav  of  Indians  was  made  in  the  surround- 
ing countrv.  and  the  vigilant  magistrates,  on 


,„„  iL, 


THE   VALLIANT    ARMY. 


J^<r^ 


Uwer-f  half  mcon-         -  ^^ 
Tfie  (hot  arid  Sl^^S               '^^~tC^=— 
W^ri^     ""-'''* ^»-— 


1 

I 

r:::=- 

''n 



,^__ 

^= — 

'T^^ 

3J___ 

_^^ 

_~i— 



' 

-  — 

^^^<^^^ 

^y^'-  — 

z. 

.0^ 


5'  li  S5»Wj7<^v"  <Ui^i^<f^ 

32  ^pojtifrt.  gat» 


# 


JSowliuG  Ovccn 


■9 


September  20,  resolved  "to  raise  up  the  pal- 
isades to  the  height  of  at  least  10  or  12  feet, 
to  prevent  the  orcrloopcii  [jumping  over  J  of 
the  savages." 

The  palisades,  or  stockade,  extended  along 
the  East  River,  from  near  the  present  head  of 
Coenties  Slip,  on  the  line  of 
Pearl  Street,  crossing  the  tlelds 
to  the  North  River,  on  the 
present  north  side  of  Wall 
Street  (whence  its  name),  and 
then  along  the  North  River  to 
the  fort,  just  east  of  Green- 
wich Street,  which  was  then 
under  water.  The  map  of  the 
city  in  169s  shows  the  line  of 
the  palisades.  In  digging  the 
foundation  of  the  new  Bowling 
Green  Offices,  s-i  i  Broadway,  a  large  num- 
ber of  these  old  posts  were  found  many  feet 
under  the  surface.  Although  nearly  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  old.  the  portions  found 
were  in  a  wonderful  state  of  preservation. 
Canes  and  other  mementos  have  been  made 
from  these. 

War's  rude  alarms  for  a  while  having  ceased, 
the  citizens  turned  their  attention  to  the  im- 
proving of  the  city.  First,  a  census  was  taken, 
which  showed  120  houses  and  1000  inhabit- 
ants. The  average  price  of  the  best  city  lots 
was  then  fifty  dollars,  while  the  rent  of  an  av- 


Cbc  |pali= 
6at>ce 


THE    DRUMMER. 


Bowline}  Green 


on  tbe 

Sovclin^ 

Orccn 


erage  good  house  was  fourteen  dollars  per 
annum. 

The  ditch,  which  heretofore  had  run  through 
the  centre  of  Broad  Street,  was  sided  up  with 
boards.  Several  of  the  streets  were  ordered 
paved  with  stone,  whence  Stone  Street  re- 
ceived its  name,  being  one  of  the  first  paved 
streets  in  the  city. 

In  ibsQ.  an  ordinance  was  passed  establish- 
ing a  public  market  on  the  present  Bowling 
Green." 

"It  is  found  good  and  resolved,  that  for  all 
fat  cattle  brought  to  the  market  (not  slaugh- 
tered) posts  shall  be  erected  by  the  side  of  the 
church  where  those  who  bring  such  cattle  to 
market  for  sale  shall  present  them. 

"It  is  also  resolved,  that  shambles  be  built, 
a  cover  be  made,  and  a  block  brought  in,  and 
that  the  key  be  given  to  Andries.  the  baker, 
who  shall  keep  oversight  of  the  same." 

It  was  at  this  time  made  the  duty  of  the 
Sheriff  to  go  around  the  city  at  night.  He  evi- 
dentlvmust  have  considered  this  as  detracting 
from  his  dignity,  for  he  officially  complains, 
"That  the  dogs  attack  him:  that  the  people 
cause  frights  bv  halloing  "  Indian  '  in  the  night, 
and  that  the  boys  cut  •  koeckies.'  " 

For  some  time  the  English  colonists  occu- 
pying the  country  to  the  north  and  the  south 
of  New  Netherland  had  been  restive,  and  the 
home  government  was  more  than  willing  to 


Jfiowlmo  Grecu 


^3 


back  up  their  claims  that  no  rival  power 
should  separate  their  possessions,  claiming 
that  the  Dutch  occupation  was  usurpation 
of  the  English  rights.  Charles  the  Second, 
with  kingly  liberality,  granted  a  patent  under 
date  of  March  12,  1664,  to  his  brother  James, 
Duke  of  York,  bestowing  upon  him  the  whole 
of  New  Netherland, 
and  that  part  of  Con- 
necticut lying  west  of 
the  Connecticut  River. 
That  he  had  no  right 
or  title  in  this  property 
disturbed  him  little,  he 
believing,  with  other 
monarchs  of  that  time, 
that  might  made  right. 
The  King  had  previous- 
ly granted  to  the  Earl 
of  Sterling  the  whole  of 
Long  Island;  in  order  ^/ 
to  consolidate  his  pos- 
sessions, James  bought 
this  of  him  for  three  hundred  pounds,  and 
then  arranged  to  send  an  expedition  to  take 
formal  possession  of  all  his  new  territory. 
The  utter  uselessness  of  resistance,  notwith- 
standing the  amount  of  work  and  time  that 
had  been  spent  upon  the  fort  and  palisades, 
was  apparent  to  the  Governor's  Council  and 
the  Buriromasters.  even  if  not  to  the  Governor 


Oiaiit 

to  tbc 

E)ui;e  of 

lL>orh 


24 


IBowlinci  (Breen 


IHew 
Hm3tcr= 

^am 

becomes 

mew  lorh 


himself.  In  vain  Peter  Stuyvesant  stormed 
around  on  his  wooden  leg,  endeavoring  to 
infuse  his  own  courage  into  the  others.  He 
fmally,  however,  was  compelled  to  vield  to 
necessity,  and  on  August  26,  1664.  the  capit- 
ulation was  formally  agreed  upon.  New  Am- 
sterdam thenceforth  becoming  (except  for  a 
short  period  when,  in  167^.  the  Dutch  retook 
the  city  and  held  it  for  about  a  year)  known 
as  New  York.  The  terms  of  surrender  were 
most  favorable,  it  being  agreed  that  the  West 
Indies  Company  should  enjoy  all  their  "  f^ist 
property"  except  forts,  etc.  ;  the  then  magis- 
trates were  continued  in  office  until  future 
election  by  the  people  ;  the  Dutch  inhabitants 
were  confirmed  in  their  property  and  liberties. 
There  seems  little  question  but  that  the  people 
generally  felt  that  the  change  of  government 
would  be  for  their  ultimate  good.  At  any 
rate,  they  accepted  the  situation  gracefully, 
for  a  few  months  after  the  capitulation  the 
Burgomasters  (being  the  same  who  had  been 
in  office  at  the  time  of  the  surrender)  sent 
the  following  petition: ' 

"  To  His  Royal  Highness  The  Duke  of  York, 
by  the  Grace  of  God,  our  most  Gracious  Lord, 
Greeting." 

"It  hath  pleased  God  to  bring  us  under 
voLir  R.  H's  obediance,  wherein  we  promise 
to  conduct  ourselves  as  good  subjects  are 
bound   to    do.    deeminsf   ourselves   fortunate 


3Bo\vlino  (Breeii 


that  His  Highness  hath  p^rovided  us  with  so 
gentle,  wise,  and  intelligent  a  gentleman  for 
Governor  as  the  Hon.  Col.  Richard  Nichols, 
confident  and  assured  that  iiihtcr  tlic  icings 
of  this  valiant  gciitlcuiaii  ice  sliall  bloom  and 
grow  lilxC  tlie  Cedar  of  Lebanon. 


BURGOMASTERS 


Assuming  that  this  gracious  acceptance  of 
the  inevitable,  in  all  the  rhetorical  splendor  of  its 
mixed  metaphor,  must  soften  his  heart,  they  at 
once  proceed  to  request  further  rights  and  privi- 
leges, and  pray  to  be  relieved  from  certain  on- 
erous imposts  and  burdens  for  tlve  or  six  years. 

Doubting  not  but  His  Royal  Highness 
will  at  the  close  of  these  years  learn  with 
hearty  delight  the  advancement  of  this  Prov- 
ince, even  to  a  place  from  which  your  Royal 
Highness  shall  come  to  derive  great  revenue, 
being  then  peopled  with  thousands  of  fami- 
lies, and  having  great  trade  by  sea  from  New 
England  and  other  places  out  of  Europe,  Af- 
rica or  America.'' 


Ipctlttoii 
to  tbe 

©uhc  of 
lljorh 


JBowlimj  (3rceu 


1Rc>:apturc 

of  tbeCitv 

In:  tbc 

Sutcb 


Certainly  these  Burgomasters,  with  their 
prophetic  souls,  could  not  be  accused  of  any 
old-fashioned  ideas  as  to  loyalty  and  allegiance 
to  their  past,  for  in  the  very  next  year,  in  the 
record  of  the  "proceedings  of  the  Burgomas- 
ters and  Schepens,"  under  date  of  June  24, 
1665,  It  is  recorded:  "This  dav.  after  the 
usual  ringing  of  the  city-hall  bell  three  times, 
is  published  a  certain  proclamation  regarding 
the  confiscation  of  the  West  India  Go's  ef- 
fects, in  consequence  of  the  Company  inflict- 
ing all  sorts  of  injury  on  His  Royal  jMajestv's 
subjects."  Thus  passed  away  the  last  rights 
of  the  West  India  Company, 

In  1673,  war  haying  been  declared  by  Eng- 
land against  Holland,  a  Dutch  fleet  appeared 
in  the  harbor  of  New  York,  and  recaptured 
the  city  on  August  g,  1673.  The  name  was 
then  changed  to  New  Orange.  Only  for  a 
short  period,  howeyer,  were  the  Dutch  al- 
lowed to  retain  possession,  for  the  next  year 
a  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  between  the  pai"- 
ent  countries,  by  the  terms  of  which  Surinam 
was  giyen  to  the  Dutch  as  an  equivalent  for 
New  York  ! !  The  city  was  restored  to  the 
English,  November  10,  1674.  and  the  name 
changed  back  to  New  York.  Under  the  sway 
01  the  English,  increased  prosperity  came  to 
the  city.  Among  the  privileges  granted  was 
a  monopoly  in  the  bolting  of  flour  and  in  the 
exportation  of  sea-biscuit  and  tloui".     The  im- 


ORIGINAL    GRANTS. 


JBowling  (Brecn 


29 


'M 


portance  of  this  monopoly,  which  histed  un- 
til 1604,  can  hardly  be  over-estimated,  since 
it  gave  New  York  a  commercial  importance 
which  it  has  never  since  lost.  In  i685,  under 
Governor  Dongan,  a  charter  was  granted  to 
the  citv,  which  still  tbrms  the  basis  of  its  mu- 
nicipal rights  and  privileges.  At  the  same 
time  a  new  seal  was  given  which,  with  the 
substitution  of  an 
eagle  for  a  crown 
and  a  sailor  for 
one  of  the  Indi- 
ans, is  virtually 
the  present  seal  of 
the  city.  This 
seal  retained  the 
beaver  from  the 
old  seal  of  1623, 
emblematic  of  the 
city's  commercial 
beginning,  a  n  d 
added    to    it  the 

flour-barrel  and  the  arms  of  a  wind-mill,  as 
tokens  of  the  prosperity  which  had  come  to 
it  from  the  Bolting  Act. 

Interesting  as  it  would  be  to  follow  the  his- 
tory of  the  city  and  its  gradual  progress  to- 
wards its  present  condition,  space  compels  us 
to  confine  ourselves  more  especially  to  those 
events  and  changes  which  show  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  BowlincT  Green  and  its  immediate 


SEAL   OF    CITY, 


GRANTED    BY    JAMES 


Zbc 

Charter 
a^^  Seal 


3Bowlim3  Green 


Ifirst 
Grants 
of  lots 


neighborhood.  The  lower  part  of  Broadway, 
facing  Bowling  Green,  in  common  with  that 
upon  the  east-side,  was  simply  designated  as 
"The  Market-field."  Afterwards,  it  received 
the  name  of  the  "  Heere  Straat,"  or  Great 
Highway,  and  later  the  name  "Broad  Way." 
Grants  of  lots  were  first  made,  and  deeds 
given,  in  1642.  Until  then  settlers  had  been  al- 
lowed to  occupy  land  as  they  saw  fit,  and  lines 
and  boundaries  were  established  by  chance,  or 
according  to  each  one's  own  sweet  will. 

in  1643,  the  first  lot  granted  on  "  De  Heere 
Straat  "  was  deeded  to  Martin  Cregier.  It  was 
thus  described  (translated  from  the  Dutch)': 

"Grant  to  Marten  Cregier.  1643.  Lot  for  a 
house  and  garden  lying  north  of  the  Fort,  ex- 
tending from  the  house,  about  west,  nine  rods 
two  feet  ;  towards  the  fort,  south,  six  rods 
nine  feet.  Again  about  east,  with  a  great 
out-point,  fourteen  rods  six  feet  ;  further,  to 
the  place  of  beginning,  four  rods  five  feet. 
Amounting,  in  an  uneven,  four-sided  figure. 
to  eighty-six  rods  three  feet."'  This  lot  is 
now  known  as  numbers  q  and  1 1  Broadway, 
being  part  of  the  land  upon  which  the  Bowl- 
ing Green  Offices  are  built. 

The  citv  fathers,  in  their  later  attempt  to  lav 
out  the  citv.  and  to  fix  lines  and  boundaries,  in 
April,  1744,  "  Ordered  :  That  the  owners  of  the 
houses  between  Mr.  Chambers  and  Mr.  I)e- 
peysters  corner  house,  by  the  Bowling  Green, 


z     < 


JBowlino  Green 


Bttcinptt; 

to  Jf  ir 
%\uce  of 

1I.V11SCB 


have  liberty  to  rans^e  their  t'ronls  in  such 
manner  as  the  Alderman  and  Assistant  of  the 
West  Ward  mav  think  proper.""'  And  again, 
in  Mav  of  the  next  vear.  they 

"Ordered:  That  a  straight  line  be  drawn 
from  the  south  corner  of  the  house  of  Mr. 
Augustus  jav.  now  in  the  occupation  of  Peter 
Warren,  Hsquire.  to  the  north  Corner  of  the 
house  of  Archibald  Kennedy,  fronting  the 
Bowling  Green  in  the  Broad  Wav.  and  that 
Mr.  William  Smith,  who  is  now  about  to 
build  a  house  (and  all  other  persons  who 
shall  build  between  the  two  houses)  lav  their 
foundations  and  build  conformably  to  the 
aforesaid  straight  line." 

The  liberty  gi\'en  to  the  owners  of  the 
houses  bv  the  ordinance  of  1744,  "to  range 
their  fronts"  as  might  be  thought  proper,  was 
so  thoroughly  availed  of  that  even  until  the 
present  time,  one  hundred  and  tiftv  years  af- 
ter, no  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  later 
order  of  174^.  for  the  buildings  pulled  down 
in  i8qs.  to  make  room  for  the  new  Bowling 
Green  Offices,  were  very  far  from  being  on 
a  line,  and  the  few  buildings  still  remaining  to 
the  north,  towards  Morris  Street,  do  not  even 
vet  front  on  a  straight  line.  A  view  taken  in 
183s.  shows  the  projecting  edges  of  the  houses. 
The  map  of  the  city  in  ibq^.*  shows  that  the 
waters  of  the  North   River  came  beyond  the 

*  See  p^ge  lo. 


34 


Bowliiui  Green 


Opening 
iHcw 

Streets 


present  eastern  side  of  Greenwich  Street.  A 
later  map  siiows  how  the  city  has  been  gradu- 
ally extended,  the  dotted  lines  marking  the 
water-line  at  various  periods. 

In  1723,  the  city  offered  for  sale  the  lands 
between  high- and  low-water  mark,  "from 
the  house  of  Mr.  Gaasbeck  near  the  Fort  to  the 
green  trees,  commonly  called  the  locust  trees, 
near  the  English  Church,"  '"  or  from  the  pres- 
ent Battery  to  Rector  Street.  In  1729.  it  was 
ordered:  "For  the  better  utility  of  trade  and 
commerce,  and  increasing  the  buildings  within 
the  city,  and  improving  the  revenue  of  the 
corporation,"  that  two  streets  should  be  sur- 
veyed and  laid  out  along  the  Hudson  River, 
one  street  of  forty  feet  in  width  at  high-water 
mark,  and  the  other  of  thirty  feet  in  width  at 
low-water  mark;  the  high-water  mark  to  be 
the  centre  of  one  street,  and  the  low-water 
mark  to  be  the  centre  of  the  other."  These 
streets  are  the  present  Greenwich  and  Wash- 
ington Streets,  the  former  deriving  its  name 
from  its  being  an  extension  of  a  lane  which 
led  to  Greenwich  Village.  Notwithstanding 
the  "order,"  it  was  some  years  before  any- 
thing was  done  towards  filling  in  the  land  and 
opening  these  streets,  for  on  a  map  so  late  as 
i7^s  these  streets  are  not  shown  as  existing 
at  their  southern  end. 

In  March.  17^2.  the  then  city  fathers" 

"  Resohed.  that  this  Corporation  will  lease 


From  "  In  Old  New  York,"  Copyright,  IS9a,  by  Harper  &  Brother!. 

35  MAP    SHOWING   EXTENSIONS    OF    THE    BATTERY. 


Bowlnui  Ovccn 


a  piece  of  land  lyiiii;  at  the  lower  end  ot  Broad- 
way, fronting  to  the  Fort,  to  some  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  said  Broadway,  in  order  to 
be  inclosed  to  make  a  Bowling-Green  thereof, 
with  walks  therein,  for  the  beauty  and  orna- 
ment of  said  street,  as  well  as  for  the  recrea- 
tion and  delight  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  citv. 
leaving  the  Street  on  each  side  thereof  so  ft.  in 
breadth." 


jrifrit 

iiamini) 
Ciccn 


"■""'^^■^^^^^ 


STAINFD  GLASS    WINDOW  IN   "  BOWLING  GREEN  OFFICES." 
5H0WING    GREEN    ABOUT   1760. 

Three  public-spirited  and  sport-loving  citi- 
zens, John  Chambers,  Peter  Bayard,  and  Peter 
jay, — may  their  names  be  placed  upon  the 
roll  of  the  worthy. — hired,  in  accordance  with 
this  resolution,  this  ground,  theretofore  called 
"The  Plaine,"  and  later.  "  The  Parade."  for  a 
term  of  eleven  years,  at  the  enormous  rent  of 
one  peppercorn  per  annum,  and  prepared  it 
for  the  sport  of  bowls.  Let  us  hope  they  did 
not  charge  too  much  per  game  to  recoup  them- 
selves.     As  this  lease  neared  its  termination, 


JBowliucj  Green 


IRcncwal 
of  lease 


it  was  ordered  that  it  be  renewed  for  eleven 
years,  on  payment  of  twenty  shillings  per  an- 
num, the  lessees  being  John  Chambers,  Colo- 
nel Phillipse.  and  John  Roosevelt.  We  are  not 
told  what  happened  at  the  expiration  of  this 


PART    OF    PLAN    OF    CITY,    1763. 
SURVEYED    BY     F.    MAERSCHALCK. 


A. — The  Fort.  O. — Custom  House.  P — Governor's  House.  Q. — Sec- 
retary's Office.  S. — E.xchange.  T. — Fish  Market.  4.  — Block  House. 


lease,  whether  they  demanded  a  reduction  of 
rent,  and  failing  to  obtain  it  abandoned  the 
Green,  or  whether  other  sports  became  the  fad 


KENNEDY    HOUSE,    NO.     1     BROADWAY. 


Bowliiui  Oiccn 


41 


ot  the  Liltra-tashionables,  whose  liOLises  then        iicibitc 
surrounded  the  Green.  '^^^^^ 

In  a  map  of  1763,*  we  find  Greenwich  Street 
has  been  opened,  the  Bowling  Green  being 
then  laid  down  in  the  shape  of  a  triangle. 
The  land  beside  the  Fort,  on  the  east  and 
west  side,  was  anciently  called  "T'  Marck- 
velt,"  or  "The  Market-tield,"  from  its  vicinity 
to  the  markets  then  held  on  the  "Plaine,"  or 
Bowling  Green.  The  portion  on  the  east  is 
now  Whitehall  Street.  The  name  "  Market- 
field."  however,  remains  in  connection  with 
the  small  street  originally  I'unning  fi^om  White- 
hall to  Broad,  formerly  called  •"Petticoat  Lane," 
a  part  of  which  has  since  been  obliterated  to 
make  room  for  the  present  Produce  Exchange. 
The  name  '•Whitehall"  originated  in  a  large 
storehouse  on  the  corner  of  Whitehall  and 
State  Streets,  built  by  Peter  Stuyvesant,  after- 
wards falling  into  the  hands  of  Governor  Don- 
gan,  he  named  it  the  "White  Hall."  This 
subsequently,  for  a  little  while,  became  the 
custom-house  of  the  city,  which  later  was 
moved  to  number  i  Broadway." 

This  plot  of  land.  1  Broadway,  had  origi- 
nally been  owned  by  a  widow,  Annetje 
Kocks,  who  for  years  kept  a  tavern  here. 
In  17O0.  Captain  Kennedy,  atterwards  Pari 
of  (^assilis,  built  on  this  corner  a  mansion, 
which  was  destined  to  be  famous  for  many 
*See  p.ige  ;8, 


4^ 


Bowlino  Green 


■Cbc 
XClasbs 

3Suil5ina 


ye:irs.  The  garden  in  its  rear  extended  to  the 
Hudson  River.  Captain  Kennedy,  returning  to 
England  prior  to  the  Revolution,  left  the  prop- 
erty to  his  son  Robert,  Irom  whom  it  passed 
to  the  late  Nathaniel  Prime,  a  leading  banker 
of  the  city.  In  the  spring  of  1776,  General 
Lee,  and  afterward  General  Putnam,  occu- 
pied this  house  as  their  headquarters,  and,  for 
a  time,  Washington.'^  During  the  occupancy 
of  the  city  by  the  English.  Sir  Guy  Carleton 
and  other  British  officers  lived  here.  Mr. 
Isaac  Sears,  one  of  the  prominent  "  Liberty 
Boys,"  lived  in  it  subsequent  to  the  Revolu- 
tion. He  was  commonly  called  "King  Sears," 
and  his  daughters  "The  Princesses."  After- 
ward, it  was  taken  by  Mrs.  Graham  for  a 
girls'  school,  and  later  was  known  as  the  best 
boarding-house  in  the  citv.  For  many  years 
it  was  called  the  Washington  Inn.  in  1882. 
it  was  torn  down,  and  the  present  struc- 
ture known  as  the  Washington  Building 
was  erected  by  Cvrus  Field,  to  whose  per- 
severance and  skill  was  due  the  laying  of 
the  first  Atlantic  cable.  After  the  land  at 
the  rear  of  these  houses  was  extended,  a  house 
was  built  in  what  had  been  the  garden  of 
the  Kennedy  house,  in  which  Robert  Fulton, 
the  inventor  of  the  steamboat,  lived  and  died. 
At  number  3  Broadway,  John  Watts,  one  of 
the  Governor's  Council,  lived  ;  his  daughter 
was  the  wife  of  Archibald  Kennedy.'* 


Bowlino  Green 


43 


/6y(, 


Next  to  this  was  the  property  of  Martin 
Cregier,  ah'eadv  referred  to.  This  same  Mar- 
tin Cregier  was 
a  notable  citizen. 

He  was  by  turns  /^^^^^W^-t    kMt*y-r*^- 
an   Indian   trader. 

AUTOGRAPH    OF    MARTIN    CREGIER. 

sloop  owner,  and 

master.  In  1(548,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the 
first  four  Fire  Wardens.  In  10=^4,  we  tnid  that 
a  new  seal  having  been  granted  to  the  city, 
it  was  publicly  delivered  December  8,  by  the 
Director  to  Martin  Cregier,  presiding  Burgo- 
master. (The  salary  of  Burgomaster  was 
three  hundred  and  fifty  guilders  —  when  it 
was  paid ! )  '^  He  was  Captain  of  the  "  Burgh- 
ery,"  or  citizens'  company,  he  commanded  an 
expedition  against  the  Swedes  on  the  Delaware 
River,  and,  in  1663,  against  the  Hsopus  Indians." 
In  all  of  these  various  occupations  h.e  must 
have  been  successful,  for,  in  ibSQ,  we  find 
he  built  upon  his  lot  a  tavern,  which  soon 
became  a  place  of  fashionable  resort,  the  Del- 
monico  or  Waldorf-Astoria  of  the  time.  For- 
tune favored  him,  as  before,  for.  in  167;, 
during  the  temporary  recapture  of  the  city 
by  the  Dutch,  at  a  meeting  of  the  "Val- 
iant Council  of  War,"  an  order  was  passed 
calling  for  the  nomination  of  six  persons  as 
Burgomasters.  '"To  wit  :  from  the  U^'caltJii- 
cst  Inhabitants  and  those  only  who  are  of  the 
Reformed  Christian  Religion."'  Cregier,  fuKill- 


/JOartin 

Ciciiicr 


44 


Bowliucj  Green 


Hrins 
Cavcin 


ing  all  these  requirements,  was  duly  elected, 
further  proving  that  tavern-keeping  was 
equally  prosperous  then  as  now,  and  not  in- 
consistent with  religious  profession.  In  1674. 
wetlnd  him  superintending  the  fortifications,  in 
anticipation  of  the  coming  of  the  English  force. 
Whether  his  Dutch  blood  resented  the  linal 
capture  of  the  city  by  the  English,  or  whether 
new  and  more  modern  taverns  eclipsed  his 
own  and  took  his  custom,  we  are  not  told; 
but  we  find  that  later  he  abandoned  New 
York,  and  with  his  family  moved  to  the  banks 
of  the  Mohawk,  then  on  the  verv  tVontiers. 
where  he  died,  in  1713,  nearly  a  century  old. 

As  Cregier's  Tavern  became  old  and  behind 
the  times,  a  new  building  was  erected,  which 
afterward  bore  the  name  of  '"King's  Arms 
Tavern."  and  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution 
was  familiarly  called  "Burns'  Coffee  House." 
It  was  among  the  few  buildings  that  escaped 
the  fires  of  1776  and  184^.  As  late  as  i860,  the 
same  building  was  still  standing,  bearing  the 
title  of  "The  Atlantic  Garden."  This  is  re- 
markable as  being  only  the  second  structure 
to  occupv  the  site  since  the  foundation  of  the 
city.  Almost  until  the  present  time  the  gar- 
den connected  with  this  property  has  fur- 
nished a  place  for  popular  amusement.  In 
Parker's  Post  Boy  of  Mav  27,  17O2,  appears 
the  following  notice: 

'"This  is  to  cive  Notice,  to  all   Gentlemen 


45  KING'S   ARMS    TAVERN    OR    BURNS'    COFFEE    HOUSE    9-11    BROADWAY. 


Bowluui  Green 


HACWfir 

paper 
IHoticcs 


;iiul  Ladies,  Lovers  and  Hncouragers  of  Mu- 
sick.  That  this  day  will  be  opened,  by  Messrs. 
Leonard  &  Dienval,  Musick  Masters,  of  this 
citv,  at  Mr.  Burns'  Room,  near  the  Batterv, 
a  public  and  weekly  Concert  of  Musick.  Tick- 
ets, four  shilliuiTs.'" 

"N.  B.  The  concert  is  to  begin  exactly  at 
8  o'clock,  and  end  at  ten.  on  account  of  the 
coolness  of  the  evening.  No  Body  will  be 
admitted  without  tickets,  nor  no  money  will 
be  taken  at  the  door.  " 

In  the  next  year.  1763.  a  Mrs.  Steel,  who 
had  kept  the  King's  Arms  Tavern  in  Broad 
Street  (the  most  noted  tavern  in  the  citv  for 
thirty  years),  removed  to  this  house,  carrying 
with  her  the  name  of  her  old  place.  The  an- 
nouncement is  thus  made  in  the  Post  "Bov  : 
"Mrs.  Steel,  Takes  this  method  to  acquaint 
her  Friends  and  Customers.  That  the  King's 
Arms  Tavern,  which  she  formerly  kept  oppo- 
site the  Exchange,  she  hath  now  removed 
into  Broadway  (the  lower  end  opposite  the 
Fort),  a  more  commodious  house,  where  she 
will  not  only  have  it  in  her  power  to  accom- 
modate gentlemen  with  conveniences  requi- 
site as  a  tavern,  but  also,  with  genteel  lodging 
apartments,  which  she  doubts  not  will  give 
satisfaction  to  every  one  who  will  be  pleased 
to  give  her  that  honour." 

Mrs.  Steel's  move  must  have  been  an  unfor- 
tunate one,  for.  in  176=.,  we  tlnd  Burns  again  in 


48 


Bowlino  Oi'ccn 


Ipublic 
fliifignas 

tion 
aiiaiiist 
Stamp 

B:t 


control  (perhaps  he  married  the  widow),  and 
from  then  on  the  place  seems  to  have  been 
known  as  "Burns'  Coffee  House." 

On  October  31,  176s,  a  meeting  of  the  mer- 
chants of  the  city  was  called  at  Burns'  Coffee 
House,  in  order  to  express  their  opposition  to 
the  Stamp  Act.  Here  they  passed  and  signed 
the  tlrst  non-importation  agreement  of  the  col- 
onies. Over  two  hundred  merchants  signed 
the  resolutions,  thus  securing  lor  New  York 
the  credit  of  being  the  first  to  sacrifice  its 
commercial  interests  to  the  cause  of  libertv. 
At  this  meeting  a  non-importation  association 
was  also  organized,  and  a  committee  ap- 
pointed to  correspond  with  the  other  colo- 
nies, with  a  view  to  the  universal  adoption 
of  similar  measures.  In  the  morning  of  the 
next  day,  November  i,  when  the  Stamp  Act 
was  to  go  into  effect,  handbills  mvsteriouslv 
appeared  throughout  the  city,  forbidding  any 
one.  at  his  peril,  to  use  the  stamped  paper. 

In  the  evening  two  companies,  largelv  com- 
posed of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  whose  headquar- 
ters were  at  Burns'  Coffee  House,  appeared  in 
the  streets.  The  first  companv  proceeded  to 
the  "fields,"  or  common  (City  Hall  Park), 
where  they  erected  a  gallows  and  suspended 
thereon  an  effigy  of  Lieutenant-Covernor  Col- 
den,  with  the  stamped  paper  in  his  hand,  a 
drum  at  his  back,  and  bv  his  side  they  hung 
an  effi^v  of  the  devil  with  a  boot  in  his  hand. 


Bowlino  Green 


49 


The  other  companv.  with  another  effigy  of  iRcpcai 
Golden  seated  in  a  chair,  broke  open  his  °^ stamp 
Stable,  and  taking  out  his  chariot  placed  the 
effigy  in  it,  and  then,  joining  the  other  com- 
pany, both  proceeded  to  the  Fort,  strictest 
orders  having  been  given  that  not  a  word 
should  be  spoken  or  a  stone  thrown.  On  ar- 
riving at  the  Bowling  Green,  they  found  the 
soldiers  drawn  up  on  the  ramparts  of  the 
Fort,  and  the  muzzles  of  the  cannon  pointed 
toward  them.  General  Gage,  who  was  then 
the  British  commander,  prudently  refrained 
from  firing  upon  the  mob,  knowing  well  that 
the  tlrst  vollev  would  be  followed  by  the 
immediate  destruction  of  the  Fort.  The  people 
having  been  refused  admission  to  the  Fort, 
tore  down  the  wooden  fence  about  the  Bowl- 
ing Green,  kindled  a  tire  there,  and  burned 
the  carriage,  gallows,  eftlgies,  and  all. 

The  odious  Stamp  Act  was  finally  repealed 
on  February  20,  1765.  This  action  of  the 
ministry  was  received  with  the  wildest  en- 
thusiasm. The  whole  city  was  illuminated, 
special  bonfires  being  kindled  on  the  Bowling 
Green.  For  a  time  this  action  of  the  home 
government  aroused  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
populace,  and  on  June  23.  another  meeting 
was  held  at  Burns"  Coffee  House,  petitioning 
the  Assembly  to  erect  a  statue  in  honor  of 
William  Pitt,  and  also  an  equestrian  statue  of 
George  the  Third.     On   August  21,  1770,  the 


JBovvliiig  Ovccn 


statue  of 

(Scorac  tbc 

Xrbir6 


Statue  of  George  the  Third  having  arrived 
tVom  England,  it  was  placed  in  the  centre  of 
Bowling  Green  amid  the  general  acclamation 
of  the  people.  In  November,  it  was  ordered  : 
"That  a  temporary  fence  be  forthwith  made 
around  the  Bowling  Green,  of  posts  and  rails 
not  to  exceed  five  rails  high."  The  following 
year,  1771,  it  was  ordered:  "Whereas  the 
General  Assembly  of  this  Province  have  been 
at  the  great  expense  of  sending  for  an  eques- 
trian statue  of  his  present  majesty  [George 
111.],  and  erected  the  same  on  the  Bowling 
Green,  before  his  majesty's  Fort  in  this  city, 
and  this  Board,  conceiving,  that  unless  the 
said  Green  be  fenced  in,  the  same  will  very 
soon  became  a  receptacle  for  all  the  filth  and 
dirt  of  the  neighborhood,  in  order  to  prevent 
which,  it  is  ordered  that  the  same  be  fenced 
with  iron  rails,  in  a  stone  foundation,  at  an 
expense  of  ^800."  This  fence  and  the  origi- 
nal stones  still  surround  the  Green,  the  crowns 
which  originally  ornamented  the  tops  of  the 
pillars  having  been  broken  off. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution,  to 
celebrate  the  news  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, this  statue  was  dragged  from  its 
pedestal,  and  drawn  through  the  streets.  It 
was  then  sent  to  Litchfield,  the  residence  of 
Oliver  Wolcott.  Governor  of  Connecticut,  bv 
whose  wife  and  daughter  it  was  run  into 
42.000  bullets,  "to  assimilate  with  the  brains 


Bowluuj  Orecn 


of  the  adversary."  Subsequently,  durini^  the 
invasion  of  Connecticut  by  Governor  Tryon. 
over  four  hundred  British  soldiers  were  killed, 
probably  by  this  very  lead.  The  pedestal  of 
the  statue  remained  standing  for  some  time 
longer,  as  is  shown  in  a  contemporaneous 
print  of  the  Bowling  Green  at  the  time  of  the 
Revolution. 

On  August  2b,  1776,  the  city  was  captured 
by  the  English.  Shortlv  alter  the  occupancy 
of  the  British  a  great  tire  occurred,  destroying 
four  hundred  and  ninetv-two  houses,  nearly 
one  eighth  of  the  entire  city.  The  houses 
at  the  lower  end  of  Broadway,  facing  Bowling 
Green  on  the  west  side,  were  saved. 

The  Green  again  welcomed  the  joyous  and 
exultant  crowds  who  there  gathered  to  see  the 
final  evacuation  of  the  city  by  the  British  on 
November  2S.  178^  Before  leaving,  the 
English  had  nailed  their  defeated  colors  to  the 
flag-pole  which  stood  near,  and  in  the  hope  of 
preventing  the  immediate  raising  of  the  stars 
and  stripes,  had  thoroughly  greased  the  pole. 
Captain  John  Van  Arsdale.  however,  quickly 
managed  to  climb  the  pole,  and  in  sight  of  the 
departing  troops  fiung  our  flag  to  the  breeze. 
Ever  since  then  it  has  been  the  custom  for  one 
of  his  descendants,  on  the  morning  of  Evacua- 
tion Day,  to  raise  the  tlag  on  the  present  lib- 
erty pole  in  the  park. 

A    map    of  Brooklyn,    drawn    by    General 


Captuic 
an^  iFiiial 

3evacua= 

tion  of  tbc 

Cits 


^/> 


ftt^'''"    vtiff^ 


BOWLING    GREEN    AT    TIME    OF    THE    REVOLUTION. 


JBowliiui  Green 


Jeremiah  Johnson  about  this  time,  is  curious, 
as  indicating  a  fact  which  probably  is  unknown 
to  most  New  Yorkers:  that  Governor's  Island 
was  at  one  time  used  as  a  race-track. 


tSovcrnoi' 


GOVERNOR'S    ISLAND   AS    NOW. 


On  the  adoption  of  the  new  constitution  by 
the  State  of  New  York,  the  event  was  cele- 
biated  bv  a  "wonderful"  procession,  which 
was  reviewed  by  Washington  and  other  nota- 
bles, from  the  ramparts  of  the  Fort,  as  it  cir- 
cled around  the  Bowling  Green.  One  of  the 
principal  floats  in  this  procession  was  an  enor- 
mous ship  named  HaiiiiltoiL  which  at  the 
close  of  the  procession  was  deposited  in  the 
Green.  This  required,  in  178Q,  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  committee  "to  remove  the  Federal 
Ship  out  of  the  Bowling  Green,  to  have  the 


58 


:fiSowliug  Green 


JBowling 
©recti 

l.t:asc5  to 
CbanccUor 
Uivinciston 


fence  repaired,  and  to  let  out  the  Bowling 
Green." 

Three  years  before  this,  in  1786.  there  is  re- 
corded a  request  of  Mr.  Daniel  Ludlow. 

"That  he  may  be  permitted  to  have  the 
care  and  use  of  the  Bowling  Green,  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  Broad  Wav,  for  two  years,  he 
being  willing,  at  his  own  expense,  to  manure 
the  ground,  and  sow  the  same  with  proper 
grass  seed,  and  have  it  well  laid  down  as  a 
green;  and  a  request  of  Mr.  Chancellor  Liv- 
ingston, that  the  direction  and  use  of  the  said 
Bowling  Green  may  be  granted  to  him,  were 
respectively  read.  Oi'ifcrcJ.  That  the  direc- 
tion and  use  of  the  said  Bowling  Green,  be 
granted  to  Mr.  Chancellor  Livingston,  on  the 
terms  offered  by  Mr.  Ludlow."  Evidently. 
Mr.  Chancellor  Livingston  had  "a  pull.'" 

In  1791,  the  street  committee  reported 
"That  in  their  opinion  the  Bowling  Green, 
in  front  of  the  Government  House,  ought  to 
be  preserved,  and  that  it  will  be  necessary  the 
fence  should  be  raised  in  proportion  to  the  reg- 
ulation of  Broadway.  Agreed  to."  in  179=,. 
it  was  "  OrdtTCif, — that  the  inclosed  ground, 
commonly  called  the  Bowling  Green,  in  front 
of  the  Government  House,  be  appropriated  to 
the  use  of  the  Governor,  for  the  time  being. '" 
Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  had  been  thus 
set  aside  for  the  use  of  the  Governor,  in  this 
same  year,  on  July  18.  the  sanctity  of  the  Green 


JBowlino  (3recn 


59 


was  invaded  by  a  tumultuous  crowd  of  citizens 
who  had  just  held  a  public  meeting  to  express 
their  opposition  to  the  treaty  with  England, 
which  had  recently  been  concluded  by  John 
Jay.  At  this  meeting,  which  had  been  ad- 
dressed by  Aaron  Burr  and  Chancellor  Liv- 
ingston, some  one  moved  that  they  should 
adjourn  to  the  Bowling  Green  and  burn  the 
treaty.  This  was  done,  the  band  playing 
the  "  Carmagnole." — the  French  and  American 
tlags  being  bound  together, — the  treaty  having 
been  considered  by  many  as  a  repudiation  of 
our  debt  of  gratitude  to  France. 

The  Governor  did  not  seem  to  appreciate  the 
advantages  of  the  Bowling  Green,  or  perhaps 
he  was  not  able  to  preserve  its  privacy,  for.  in 
1798,  we  find  that  it  was  ordered  "That  Mr. 
John  Rogers  mav  have  the  use  of  the  Bowling 
Green,  on  condition  that  he  keep  it  in  good 
order,  and  suffer  no  creatures  to  run  in  it." 

In  a  map  of  17Q7,  the  Bowling  Green  lias 
assumed  its  present  shape,  the  Fort  has  dis- 
appeared, the  Government  House,  above  re- 
ferred to,  occupying  its  site,  the  Battery  has 
been  extended,  but  even  yet  the  "Order" 
given  seventy  years  before  for  the  laying  out 
of  additional  streets,  had  not  been  complied 
with  except  as  to  Greenwich  Street,  showing 
that  municipal  progress  was  not  much  more 
rapid  at  that  time  than  now.  The  destruction 
of  the  Fort  seems  to    have   been  deteimined 


Xlbe  3as 

tlrcatv 

36urnc^  in 

CbcOiccii 


6o 


.iBowling  (Breen 


SCStlUCs 

tionof  tbc 
Ifoit 


upon  in  1789,  when,  by  act  of  the  Legislature, 
"The  ground  at  the  Fort  and  the  Battery  was 
reserved  for  the  public  use  and  for  continuing 
the  Broad  Way  through  to  the  river.  "  This 
last  was  never  done. 

In  1790,  it  was  "Ordered,  that  Messrs.  Tor- 
boss,  Van  Zant  and  George  Janeway,  be  ap- 
pointed commissioners  to  superintend  the 
taking  down  the  stone  and  removing  the 
earth  of  the  Fort."  The  earth  thus  removed 
was  used  to  enlarge  the  area  of  the  Battery 
"from  Eli's  corner  to  the  Flat  Rock."  When 
the  Fort  was  torn  down,  a  vault,  which  had 
been  sealed  up  under  the  chapel,  was  uncov- 
ered. In  this  were  the  remains  of  Lord  Bella- 
mont,  a  former  Governor,  members  of  his 
familv,  and  some  others.  Lord  Bellamont's 
familv  was  distinguished  by  the  silver  plates 
bearing  the  familv  escutcheon,  let  into  the  lead 
coffins.  The  coffins  and  bones  were  buried  in 
an  unmarked  grave  in  St.  Paul's  churchvard. 
Mr.  Van  Zant,  one  of  the  commissioners,  se- 
cured the  silver  plates,  intending  to  preserve 
them,  but  after  his  death  thev  were  converted 
into  spoons. 

The  Batterv,  which  has  retained  nothing 
whatever  suggestive  of  its  warlike  origin  ex- 
cept the  name,  owes  its  beginning  to  the  fol- 
lowing order.  In  Ux)^.  the  then  Governor 
made  the  following  proclamation:  " 

"Whereas   there    is   actual    warr  between 


Bowliiuj  Green 


our  Sovereign  Lord  ;ind  Lady  the  King  and 
Qtieen,  and  the  French  King;  and  I  am  in- 
formed ot~  a  Squadron  of  Ships  and  land 
forces,  intended  from  France  to  invade  this 
(jtty  and  i^rovince  ;  and  whereas,  for  the 
safety  and  preservation  thereof,  I  flnde  itt  of 
absolute  necessity  to  make  a  platforme  upon 
the  outmost  pointe  ot  rocks  under  the  Fort, 
whereon  1  intend  to  build  a  battery  to  com- 
mand both  rivers;  I  have  therefore  thought 
titte,  and  doe  hereby  require  you,  the  Mayor, 
Recorder  and  Aldermen  of  the  Citty  of  New 
York  and  Manning  and  Barnes  Island,  to  cut 
down  8b  cordes  of  stockades,  of  12  feet  in 
length,  and  to  have  them  in  readiness  to  be 
conveyed  to  New  York. 

(Signed)  •■Benj.  Fletcher." 

The  rocks  upon  which  the  Battery  was  built 
were  called  Capske  Rocks.  These  works  were 
then  known  as  the  Whitehall  Battery,  and 
from  this  time  on.  until  the  close  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary War.  various  additions  were  made 
thereto,  and  later,  somewhere  about  the  be- 
ginning of  the  present  century,  there  was 
built  what  was  known  as  the  Southwest  Bat- 
tery, some  three  hundred  feet  or  more  tVom 
the  shore,  the  approach  to  which  was  by 
means  of  a  bridge  with  a  draw.  This  later 
was  called  •'Castle  (Clinton."  In  the  year 
1822.  upon  the  Federal  government  taking 
possession  of  Governor's  Island,  Castle  Clin- 


Ontiin 

of  tbc 

36attcivi 


04 


36o\vliiU3  Green 


Castle 
Oar&cn 


ton  was  ceded  to  the  city.  It  was  then  pro- 
posed that  this  and  the  former  Batterv.  and 
the  grounds  included  between,  should  be 
made  into  a  public  park,  Castle  Clinton  being 
turned  into  a  public  assembly- room,  and 
called  Castle  Garden. 

On  Lafayette's  return  to  America,  in  1824, 
"a  splendid  fete  and  gala  was  given  to  him 
at  Castle  Garden,  on  September  14.  which  for 
grandeur,  expense,  and  entire  effect  was 
never  before  witnessed  in  this  country.  About 
six  thousand  persons  were  assembled  in  that 
immense  area,  and  the  evening  being  clear  and 
calm,  the  whole  passed  off  happily,  owing  to 
the  excellent  arrangementsof  the  committee. " '" 

On  December  =,,  i8si,  the  Hungarian  hero. 
Louis  Kossuth,  arrived,  and  was  received  at 
Castle  Garden,  after  which  he  was  escorted 
to  his  hotel  by  a  procession,  which  for  years 
was  famous  for  its  size  and  enthusiasm. 
Jennv  Lind  here  gave  her  fu'st  concert  Sep- 
tember 12,  18^0.  For  nearlv  forty  years, 
beginning  in  i8^^,  this  building  was  used 
as  the  emigrants'  landing-place  and  depot, 
and  later  was  transformed  into  a  public  aqua- 
rium. 

For  many  years  the  Battery  was  the  citv"s 
parade-ground.  Here,  in  the  heyday  of  theii' 
popularity,  the  Pulaski  Cadets,  the  Light 
Guard,  the  red-coated  City  Guards,  and  the 
Tompkins  Blues  went  througii  their  elaboi'ate 


Bowlino  Green 


67 


mana'uvres,  before  the  admiring  gaze  of  the 
citizens  grouped  in  surrounding  windows  and 
on  the  walks.  Here,  also,  the  Blue  Stockings 
and  the  Red  Stockings  vied  for  championship 
in  the  national  frame. 


Gastic 
©aiJcn 
Jfc'tcs 


THE    AQUARIUM. 


In  his  Diarv.  Philip  Hone  writes: 

"t^pril  IS.  18^4. — This  was  the  day  of  the 

Great  Fete  at  Castle  Garden,  to  celebrate  the 

triumph  gained  bv  the  Whig  Partv  in  the  late 

Charter  election  in  this  citv.  and  it  went  off 


6S 


JBowlino  Green 


Castle 
^Ba^^cn 


gloriously.  Tables  were  spread  in  a  double 
row  within  the  outer  circumference.  Three 
pipes  of  wine  and  40  barrels  of  beer  were 
placed  in  the  centre  under  an  awning,  and 
served  out  during  the  repast."  " 

''Monday,  October  the  2ytJi.  18^4. — The 
Jackson  men  marched  down  to  Castle  Garden, 
where  a  feast  (not  of  reason)  was  prepared,  and 
a  flow  of  whiskey  (not  of  soul)  was  served  out 
gratuitously  to  the  well  drilled  troops  of  the 
Regency.  They  tired  guns  and  exhibited  fire 
works,  and  all  in  the  way  of  rejoicing  for  vic- 
tories not  won.  or  rather  '  to  keep  their  spirits 
up  by  pouring  spirits  down.' "' '" 

'' <iApril  tlie  lotJi.  i8^s- — The  weather  being 
fine  and  spring-like.  1  walked  for  an  hour  with 
my  wife  on  the  battery.  Strange  as  it  is.  1  do 
not  think  that  either  of  us  had  done  such  a  thing 
in  the  last  seven  years,  and  what  a  wonderful 
spot  it  is.  The  grounds  are  in  fine  order.  The 
noble  bay,  with  the  opposite  shores  of  New 
Jersey,  Staten  and  Long  islands,  vessels  of 
every  description,  from  the  noble,  well-ap- 
pointed Liverpool  packet,  to  the  little  market 
craft  and  steamers  arriving  from  every  point, 
give  life  and  animation  to  a  prospect  unex- 
celled by  any  city  in  the  world.  It  would  be 
well  worth  travelling  100  miles  out  of  one's 
way  in  a  foreign  country  to  get  a  sight  of, 
and  vet  we  citizens  of  New  York,  who  have 
it  all  under  our  noses  seldom  enjoy  it.     Like 


JBowliiu"!  Grccu 


all  other  enjoyments,  it  loses  its  value  from 
being  too  easily  obtained."" 

In  a  very  rare  book  of  letters,  written  in 
1795.  by  Governor  Drayton,  of  Carolina,  he 
writes:  "At  the  lower  end  of  Broadway  is 
the  Battery,  and  public  parade:  .  .  .  be- 
tween the  guns  and  the  water  is  a  public 
walk,  made  by  a  gentle  decline  from  the  plat- 
form;  .  .  .  some  little  distance  behind 
the  guns  two  rows  of  elm  trees  are  planted; 
which  in  a  short  time  will  afford  an  agreeable 
shade;  .  .  .  the  back  part  of  the  ground 
is  laid  out  in  smaller  walks,  terraces,  and  a 
boi^'liug  green." 

"Overlooking  this  prospect,  is  the  Govern- 
ment House:  plac'd  upon  an  handsome  eleva- 
tion, and  tYonting  Broadwav,  having  before  it 
an  elegant  elliptical  approach,  round  an  area  of 
near  an  acre  of  ground,  enclosed  bv  an  iron  rail- 
ing. In  the  midst  of  this  is  a  pedastal,  which  for- 
merly was  pressed  by  a  leaden  equestrian  statue 
of  the  King  of  Great  Britain;  but  having  been 
dismantled  of  that,  for  the  use  of  the  continen- 
tal army,  it  now  remains  ready,  in  due  time  I 
hope,  to  receive  the  statue  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States  of  America.  When  that  pe- 
riod shall  arrive,  in  addition  to  the  many  daily 
occurrences  which  lead  the  mind  of  the  pas- 
senger to  pensive  reflection:  this  monument 
of  his  country's  gratitude  shall  call  his  atten- 
tion:  and  while  deeds  of  former  times,  shall 


IDravton'i 
Icttct-J 


70 


JSowlino  (3rccn 


Oovcrnr 
mcnt 
Ibouse 


pass  in  sweet  review  before  him,  the  tear 
shall  lament  the  loss  of  an  hero — but  the  heart 
collected  withm  itself,  shall  urge  him  by  so 
bright  an  example,  to  call  forth  his  powers 
and  to  pursue  the  steps  of  virtue  and  of 
honor." 

"...  The  Government  House  is  two 
stories  high.  Projecting  before  it  is  a  portico, 
covered  by  a  pediment;  upon  which  is  su- 
perbly carved  in  basso  relievo,  the  arms  of 
the  State,  supported  by  justice  and  liberty,  as 
large  as  life.  The  arms  and  figures  are  white, 
placed  in  a  blue  field;  and  the  pediment  is 
supported  by  four  white  pillars  of  the  Ionic 
order,  which  are  the  height  of  both  stories." 

The  Government  House  herein  referred  to 
was  built  upon  a  part  of  the  land  occupied  bv 
the  Fort.  As  we  have  already  seen,  it  was  in 
1 790  that  the  Fort  was  taken  down,  and  shortly 
afterward  this  house  was  erected  for  the  use 
of  Washington.  Afterward,  Governors  Clinton 
and  Jay  both  lived  in  it.  and  at  one  time  it  was 
used  as  a  Custom-House."' 

We  can  find  no  record  showing  when  the 
Fort  and  the  adjacent  land  passed  from  under 
the  control  of  the  City  to  that  of  the  Province, 
and  thence  to  the  State.  It  was  by  an  act  of 
the  Legislature,  not  of  the  Citv  Council,  that,  in 
17QO.  the  Fort  was  destroved  and  the  Govern- 
ment House  built.  On  May  20.  1812.  an  act 
was  passed  : 


GOVERNMENT    HOUSE. 


JBowliuG  Orccu 


"Be  il  enacted  by  the  people  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate  and  As- 
sembly, that  the  Comptroller  is  hereby  author- 
ized to  sell  and  convey  in  fee  simple,  all  the 
right,  title  and  interest  of  the  people  of  this 
state  in  and  to  the  Government  House  and  the 
grounds  adjoining,  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
to  the  mavor,  aldermen  and  commonalty  of 
the  said  city,  for  a  sum  not  less  than  fifty 
thousand  dollars,  and  to  receive  in  payment 
therefor,  the  bond  of  the  said  mayor,  alder- 
men and  commonalty,  payable  in  ten  years, 
with  interest  annually,  at  the  rate  of  six  per 
centum : 

''Provided  alivavs.  That  the  said  corpora- 
tion shall  not  have  the  right  of  selling  the  said 
grounds  for  the  erection  of  private  buildings, 
or  other  individual  purposes." 

The  citv  authorities  evidently  did  not  pro- 
pose to  be  limited  in  their  rights,  nor  to  pay  a 
round  sum  of  money  tor  land  which  they  could 
not  realize  upon,  however  cheap  it  might  seem. 
They  refused  to  avail  themselves  of  the  option 
to  purchase,  so  on  April  n,  i8n.  another  act 
was  passed:  '*  Be  it  further  enacted.  That  the 
proviso  to  the  enacting  clause  of  the  act  enti- 
tled '  An  act  to  authorize  the  sale  of  certain 
public  propertv  in  the  ci\v  of  New  York." 
passed  the  26th  of  May  1812,  be  and  the  same 
is  hereby  repealed,  and  that  if  the  mavor.  al- 
dermen and  commonaitv  of  New  York  shall 


■Craiisfcr 
(3ovcin= 
mciit 
Ibousc  ant 
']Lan^  to 
tbc  Citv 


Bowling  Green 


Sale  of 
I,an^  b^ 
tbc  Cit? 


not,  by  the  first  day  of  November  next,  pur- 
chase the  Government  House  and  lands  ad- 
joinmg.  then  the  authority  given  to  the 
comptroller  in  and  by  said  act  to  sell  the 
said  house  and  land  shall  cease."' 

This  threat  seems  to  have  supplied  the  nec- 
essary fillip,  and  suggested  a  chance  for  specu- 
lation, for  under  date  of  August  2,  i8n.  the 
Comptroller  of  the  State  "conveyed  to  the 
said  Mayor.  &c.,  all  the  certain  messuage  and 
lot  of  ground  situate  in  the  First  Ward  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  commonly  known  by  the 
name  of  the  Government  House  and  lot.  Sub- 
ject to  a  lease  of  the  Government  House  to 
DeWitt  Clinton  and  others,  made  pursuant  to 
section  34  of  the  act  of  29  March,  i8oq.  which 
does  not  expire  until  the  ist  of  May.  181  s."' 
As  soon  as  the  lease  expired,  the  city  hastened 
to  "  bag  its  profit,"  selling  the  land  and  giving 
title  thereto  on  June  iq.  181  t.  for  about  double 
what  they  were  under  bond  to  pay.  and  before 
they  had  paid  out  anything  whatever.  Some 
time  during  this  year  the  Government  House 
is  said  to  have  been  destroyed  by  fire. 

The  land  facing  on  the  Green  was  sold  in 
seven  parcels  or  lots,  each  being  about  thiitv- 
one  feet  front  and  one  hundred  and  thirty  teet 
in  depth,  except  the  one  on  the  northeast,  at 
the  corner  of  Whitehall  Street,  which  was  only 
four  feet  on  the  front  and  twenty-three  feet 
wide  in  the  rear.   The  oriijinal  ijrantees  were : 


Bowlino  Oreeu 

75 

Lot  I.     {NortJiwcst  corner. ) 

Oiiciinal 

Deeded  to  Noah  Brown. 

(Srantccs 
of  Xati6 
South  of 

1825  to  1 86 1,    owned  by  Stephen  Whitney. 

1888  "present,    "       "  U.  S.  Trust  Company. 
Lot.  2.     Deeded  to  Abijah  Weston. 

JJowliiui 

1834  to  1887,     owned  by  Hlisha  Riggs. 

1887  "  present,     "        "  j.  L.  Cadwalader. 

Lot  3.     Deeded  to  Elbert  Anderson. 

1821  to  182C),     owned  by  Samuel  Ward,  Jr. 

1829   "  18s  ^,          "         "    Andrew  Foster. 

i8s4  "  present,     "         "    Cornelius    Vander- 

bilt,  et  al. 

Lot  4.     Deeded  to  Elbert  Anderson. 

1823  to  1829,  owned  by  Herman  Le  Roy. 

182c)  •'  i8s2,       "         "  Lewis  Curtis. 

1862  '•  present,  "         "  A.  Hemenway,  6'/j/., 

trustees,  etc. 

Lot  s.     Deeded  to  James  Byers. 

1838  to  1883,     owned  by  Ferdinand  Suydam, 

ct  al.,  trustees,  etc. 

1883  to  present,  owned  by  Theodore  Chiches- 

ter. 

Lot  6.     Deeded  to  Peter  Remsen. 

1840  to  i8ss,     owned  by  W.  E.  Wilmerding. 

1871    "present,     "        "  Herman  C.  Von  Post. 

Lot  7.     {Northeast  corner. ) 

Deeded  to  John  Hone. 

Hone  was  the  only  original  owner  who  re- 

tained   his  lot  more  than   a  year  or  so.     He 

sold  it  in  i860  to  W.  B.  Cooper,  in  whose  fam- 

ilv  it  still  remains. 

76 


JBowUiiG  Ovccn 


'  Stcam= 

6bip 
■Bvow." 


From  the  earliest  days  of  the  city,  when  the 
Governor  lived  within  the  Fort,  later,  when 
the  Government  House  occupied  this  same 
site,  and  afterwards,  when  this  land  became 
private  property:  this  localitv,  and  the  imme- 
diate neighborhood,  was  the  most  select  and 
fashionable  part  of  the  city.  As  the  natural 
growth  of  the  city  and  the  encroachment  of 
business  drove  private  residences  farther  and 
farther  northward,  this  particular  row  of 
houses  facing  the  Green  preserved  their  in- 
dividual characteristics,  and  were  used  as 
dwellings.  They  still  retain  their  exterior  ap- 
pearance, though  they  have  ceased  to  be  so 
used.  They  are  now  occupied  bv  the  oftkes 
of  the  large  foreign  steamship  companies, 
which  has  given  them  the  name  of  "Steam- 
ship Row."  Some  years  ago  it  was  ordered 
bv  Congress  that  this  land  should  be  bought 
and  the  United  States  Custom-House  be  built 
here.  Opposition  and  litigation  have  until 
now  prevented,  but  at  last  it  seems  likely  that 
this  project  will  be  accomplished,  and  tiiis 
land,  which  had  always  been  public  property 
until  i8it,  and  upon  which  the  old  Custom- 
House  had  been  for  a  time,  will  again  become 
the  property  of  the  public,  and  in  place  of  a 
Fort — emblem  of  strife  and  distrust  among  na- 
tions— a  Custom-House,  suggestive  of  peaceful 
intercourse  and  friendly  commerce,  will  be 
built,  worthy  of  the  nation  and  of  the  city. 


STEAMSHIP    ROW,    1898. 


JBowUiui  Gi'ccn 


79 


The  land  on  the  east  of  the  Green,  where 
the  Produce  Exchange  now  stands,  was  first 
granted  to  individuals  about  1646.  Among 
the  first  owners  were  Jonas  Barteltzen  and 
Frerick  Arenzen.  The  latter  owned  the  land  on 
the  southwest  corner  of  Whitehall  and  what 
was  then  Marketfield  Streets.  AUard  Anthony, 
one  of  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  his  day, 
lived  on  the  opposite  corner.  Roelof  Jansen 
Haas  owned  the  land  to  the  corner  of  Beaver 
Street."  The  southern  portion  of  the  Produce 
Hxchange  land  was  forfeited  to  the  people  of 
the  State  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  by  the 
attainders  of  Beverly  Robinson  and  Frederick 
Philipse.  The  Legislature,  on  May  12.  1784. 
passed  "An  Act  tor  the  speedy  sale  of  the 
confiscated  and  forfeited  estates  within  this 
State."  Isaac  Stoutenburg  and  Philip  Van 
Cortlandt,  the  commissioners  appointed  under 
this  act,  sold  the  land.  In  1880.  the  Legislature 
passed  a  special  act  authorizing  the  closing 
of  Marketfield  Street,  and  deeding  it  to  the 
Produce  Exchange. 

We  have  alreadv  referred  to  some  of  the 
earlier  occupants  of  the  properties  now  known 
as  numbers  i  to  1 1  Broadwav.  In  the  house 
standing  on  what  is  now  q  Broadwav,  Bene- 
dict Arnold,  after  the  capture  of  Andre  and  the 
exposure  of  his  treacherv.  had  his  quarters.'* 
It  was  while  here  that  Sergeant  John  Champe 
attempted  to  capture  him.     The  garden  at  the 


Ipiotucc 

Erchaiuic 

lanJ  !Sa;t 

of  JBowling 

Orccn 


8o 


JBowliuo  Ovccn 


Jforincr 

IRcsiCciits 

IRcai- 

Orccit 


rear  of  the  house  sloped  down  to  the  river, 
and  a  party  of  patriots  were  to  land  here  from 
a  boat,  and,  having  secured,  carry  him  away. 
The  very  day  of  the  attempt  Arnold  moved  his 
quarters,  it  was  never  known  whether  simply 
by  accident,  or  from  disclosure  of  the  plot. 
Washington  h'ving  lived  around  the  corner, 
on  State  Street,  and  near  him  Mr.  Howland, 
long  one  of  the  most  prominent  shipping- 
merchants  of  the  city."  James  K.  Paulding, 
a  descendant  of  one  of  the  captors  of  Major 
Andre,  who  became  Secretary  of  the  Navv 
under  Van  Buren,  and  who  was  one  of  the 
authors  of  Salnmgiindi,  lived  on  the  same 
block,   at  29  Whitehall  Street. 

While  all  these  changes  have  been  going 
on  around  it,  the  Green  has  quietly,  and  with 
the  proud  conservatism  of  age,  preserved  its 
own  dignified  existence.  Always  ready  to 
give  itself  to  the  public,  whether  tor  play  or 
rest,  in  peace  or  war,  it  has  been  the  centre 
of  the  busv  life  of  the  village,  of  the  fashion- 
able life  of  the  town,  and  now  of  the  com- 
mercial activity  of  the  city.  The  Produce 
Exchange,  controlling  the  grain  trade  of  a  con- 
tinent, looks  down  upon  it.  The  offices  of 
the  largest  steamship  companies  of  the  world 
surround  it.  The  (Aistom-House,  registering 
the  commerce  of  the  Western  Hemisphere, 
will  face  it.  Some  of  the  greatest  modern 
office  buildings,  overtopping  the  spire  of  "Old 


82 


BOWLING    GREEN    OFFICES. 
5-11    BROADWAY. 


JBowluui  Green 


rriiiitv,"  Item  it  in.  Broadway,  the  longest 
stieet  in  the  world,  starts  from  its  oval.  In 
this  vear  of  grace.  i8qH.  New  York  has  greatly 
enlarged  its  borders ;  the  city  of  Brooklyn 
and  many  of  the  surrounding  townships  hav- 
ing united  in  the  one  citv  now  called  colloc]ui- 
allv  "  Greater  New  York."  Of  this  new  citv  our 
little  friend,  the  Bowling  Green,  has  become 
the  heart,  it  is  the  geographical  centre  of  the 
enlarged  metropolis. 


JSowIiiui 
Oiccn  tbc 
Centre  of 

Oicatcv 
IHCW  L:oi1: 


^4 

Bowlino  Ovccn 

REFERENCES. 

^(icfcvc\KC6 

I 

Peter  Fauconnier's  Survey  Book,  171S-34. 

2 

Dociiiih'iits  relating  to  Colonial  History  of  New 
(edited  by  E.  B.  O'Callaghan),  i.,  p.  7^. 

York 

1 

Booth's  History  ofNetv  York,  p.  122. 

4 

T^ecords  of  New  /liuslerdaui,  i.,  p.  05. 

s 

Ibid.,  i.,  p.  90 

0 

Ibid. 

7 

Valentine's  History,  p.  lOi. 

8 

Valentine's  Manual,  18^7,  p.  408. 

0 

English  Records. 

lO 

1 1 

Valentine's  History,  p.  287. 
Englisli  Records. 

12 

Valentine's  History,  p.  28s. 
Booth's  History,  p.  490. 

14 

Lamb's  History,  p.  08. 

1  ^ 

Valentine's  History,  p.  oS. 

10 

Valentine's  Manual,  i8so,  p.  581. 

'7 

English  Records,  100 •;. 

18 

Valentine's  Manual,  i8;^,  p.  467. 

10 

Philip  Hone's  Diaiy,p.  101. 

20 

Ibid.,  p.  I  IS. 

2  I 

Ibid.,  p.  1^,7. 

22 

Washington  Irving,  Salmagundi,  p.  "iio.   N.  Y., 

1S07. 

2:; 

Valentine's  History,  pp.  oO,  127. 

^4 

Booih's  History,  p.  =;o2. 

—  ■> 

Wilson's  History  of  Neie   York,  1893. 

UC  SOUTHERN!  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  f 


A     000  036  112 


